welcome
topasturegolf.com

at home on the range

PastureGolf.com
catalogs and features golf courses that have the distinction
of not being excessively manicured but which are fun and affordable
to play. These courses are a surviving
link to the original Scottish links courses, golfs historical
grassroots. We also feature blue
collar company courses (we'd love to hear about more
from you) as well as nearly forgotten WPA & New Deal Golf
Courses!

A Short History of
Golf

"One hundred years of
experience had demonstrated
that the game is temporary insanity
practiced in a pasture." - Dave Kindred

The snob factor in golf
has not always been high. Look back a generation or three
or four and you will find a game played on rougher courses than
those seen today in televised super play. Players were mostly
just folks out for a good game. Making business deals was never
the point of time spent on a golf course. Neither was it to
buy into slick merchandising and product hype to gain a better
score.

Now the trend is to more expensive
fees, higher priced clubs and specialty gear, super manicured
grounds and greens. Golf has not always been a trendy sport,
restricted to monied elites. At its birth it was the game of
a rural people, played simply on the fells and fields where
sheep and cattle grazed. Pasture golf celebrates the undercurrent,
the backwash maybe, that returns to these grassroots.

The
hole, what remained of it, was literally a pasture. A field.
- The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield

When
you play golf, just play golf. Heres you, heres
the ball, theres the target. Go to it. Hit the ball
to the target as best you can. Find the ball and do it again.
Experience, adjust, experience, adjust....The golf course
is made for playing a game! So go there and play golf.
--Chuck Hogan

From
the Pasture Golf Mailbag

"Pasture Golf. I love it!
My friend has a very similar setup here on Vashon
Island, WA. While his course is far smaller he's right
on par with you (pun intended). His course is large enough
for a pitching wedge or 9-iron. It's also funny you mention
the Tee Time Cafe in Grants Pass.
I've actually been there (several years back). Great work
putting this out for other people to find..." - Dave,
4/13/05

What is the definition of Scottish Golf
Links? For the answer to this question we go to the
archives and consult the authority on golf history,
Sir Walter Simpson. From him we learn the true meaning
of golf links.

"The grounds on which golf is played
are called links, being the barren sandy soil from which
the sea has retired in recent geological times. In their
natural state links are covered with long, rank bent
grass and gorse. Links are too barren for cultivation:
but sheep, rabbits, geese and professionals pick up
a precarious livelihood on them."

Top
Ten Things We Love About Pasture Golf

10. A game you can play no matter
what the weather.
9. Low greens fees.
8. Best place to find "my kind of people."
7. Requires touch and talent over technology.
6. No pressure to buy new sticks.
5. The only dress code is "come as you are."
4. Getting there often will take you off the beaten path,
along blue highways through beautiful country.
3. No referees, striped shirts or whistles blowing--just
ball in the hole in the fewest strokes.
2. Extreme unlikelihood that a pompous announcer speaking
in hushed tones will be describing the play.
1. Every game has a chance of being, in Bill Murray's immortal
words, "A Cinderella Story."

Vanderbilt
Country Estates - A high
quality rural residential development which preserves the
beauty and character of its historic farm and orchard surroundings
- Lovely
pieces of farm ground with great views of Kittitas
Valley near Ellensburg,
Washington! Located in the
Kittitas Valley of Eastern Washington, this land would be
great for raising horses or as a small farm; great view
and privacy. It's about 14 miles from shopping, good schools
and Central Washington University. The Kittitas Valley is
on the 'dry' eastern side of the Cascade mountains, it has
'four' seasons and is a quick two hour drive from Seattle--just
a great place where there are many
great recreational opportunities nearby - such as golf!
(Click
for more Ellensburg area land sales information.

Help
now to put a permanent end to the Slaughter
of American Horses. Americans don't eat
horse meat. These horses, 94,000 in 2005, ended up
as dinner somewhere else.

THE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES and U.S. Senate have
the opportunity to VOTE on the AMERICAN HORSE SLAUGHTER
PREVENTION ACT (H.R. 503 & S.B. 311) during the
current session. Please call or fax your Representatives
today and ask them to pass H.R. 503. Contact your Senators and ask for support of S.B.
311. More Facts and FAQs at www.awionline.org/legislation/horse_slaughter/index.htm

Congress.org
web site has contact information for elected and public
officials. Hint: put your zip code
in the take action box to go directly to the
pages for e-mailing your representative.